Sex advert woman gets suspended jail term

A Dublin woman has been found guilty of posting sex adverts on two classifieds websites on behalf of two unwitting people.

Aishling Madden (34) was convicted earlier this month following trial. She posted the bogus adverts to the Gumtree classifieds website (roughly the equivalent to Craigslist). Her initial claim - which she later retracted - was that she had brought a couple of people home from a night out and that they had jointly “done it.”

Madden pleaded not guilty to four counts of defamation against David Henry and Louise Vivash at her home between June 17th and 20th, 2006 and denied a further two counts of publishing material which was grossly offensive, indecent or obscene.

Her defense counsel said that she was a “very fragile person”, suffered from a number of mental health problems, and had to continue to live with her parents who monitored her closely.

Judge Patrick McCartan sentenced her to 12 months on each count but suspended it in full for three years on condition she complies with the instructions of her medical team.

A Garda (police officer) from the Computer Crime Investigative Unit told of how Madden had robbed another receptionist’s CV and posted it to the Gumtree website alongside the advert, because she thought that the CV (resume) was a “good example” of a receptionist’s resume.

The second offending advert, this time posted on behalf of a male acquaintance, was titled “Horny Irish male takes all” and gave the victim’s phone number and work e-mail.

It said he was a “keen operator” who offered various sex acts and like to be called “captain caveman”. The other message was titled “Diva with a heart of gold” and gave the phone number and e-mail of Ms Vivash. It offered “blowjobs, handjobs and full sex”. It continued: “Schnell Schnell Schnell, I also speak good German during adult playtime.”

Judge McCartan concluded, after expressing his satisfaction that Madden had accepted the jury’s verdict, “Two innocent people in this case were very meanly targeted and offended for little or no reason.”